Genre:
Contemporary Romance

I didn't
think it could get any worse than having to babysit a bunch of spoiled
musicians on set — keeping them out of trouble is a cakewalk compared to seeing
my ex every day.

Seaside,
Oregon isn't big enough for the both of us.

She hates
me.

I loathe
her.

The plan was
simple — stay the hell away and make sure she gets to set on time.

What I didn't
expect was to be faced with our past in front of an audience — and be forced to
face it again.

It's
torture.

The way she
looks at me.

The way I try
to look through her.

Words left
unsaid.

The lingering
aftermath still as powerful as ever.

I feed the
chasm between us, for fear that she'll make me feel again — and steal the last
shred of heart I have left.

We have
everything but each other.

It's not
enough.

Not when
you've lost love.

And replaced
it with the only thing left — hate.

Review:

As usual this woman sent me on an emotional journey and robbed me of sleep but I'm not complaining because her writing also has the power to pull me out of any reading slump! Though most of the book had me on the brink of tears,it also had comic relief from our favorite meddling Seaside characters that always know how to have fun and make you laugh even in the mist of heartache and they are loving,forgiving and acceptable of their friends and almost always ready to give second chances since they themselves have fallen and rose from the ashes to be given a second chance.I absolutely loved Angelica and Will's story! Two broken people who both think they are to blamed for ruining each other's lives and the lives of their friends but one night's events cause them so much heartache that they blocked out what they could just to be able to cope with live without each other only to realize things may not be what they thought.I feel like the song "When Hate and Love Collide" by Def Leppard is so appropriate here.

And I love every time Zane suggests calling his "mafia cousin" to take care of something, while his friends think he's joking,I'm secretly screaming in my head "Yes,please call Nixon!" *SIGH* Ok sorry temporary deter there,now back to our Seaside gang. This is one of my favorite stories of the year! It has so much depth to it that you can't help but get wrapped up in their story hoping against hope that they find a way back to each other.It's the best kind of read!

Excerpt:

I blinked up at the white ceiling, willing the tears to dry.
Praying they wouldn’t slip free — because once they were loose there was no
stopping the onslaught of emotion that would follow, the devastation, the
earth-shattering realization that nothing would ever be the same between us.
Not if he could help it — and not with me constantly pushing him.

But at least pushing him got me a reaction that proved he
wasn’t a complete indifferent sociopath.

I refused to let him get to me.

With a sigh I turned onto my side and stared out the window
imagining a different time a different place, where he was by my side — and
promised to never leave.

That and the way his hands ran down my skin like he was
getting ready to worship me the way he used to.

Only his face hadn’t been filled with wonder — disgust was
more like it.

I clung to the anger like a blanket. It was the only way to
sleep, the only way I was able to close my eyes and pray the sickness in my
chest away.

Anger forced me to focus on doing my job and getting as far
away from my past as possible.

Weakness would just make me sad.

It would make me that — weak;

And I knew where that road led.

It led me directly back to all the things that turned me
down that road in the first place.

Not being good enough.

Pretty enough.

Funny enough.

Weakness led me to a false sense of strength.

And my number one weakness had always been Will Sutherland.

It was possible — to give so much of your heart and soul to
a person that you lost who you were.

I became a different person with him — a person I thought I
needed to be in order to compete in our world. A person our world told me I had
no choice but to become in order to stay relevant.

I punched my pillow one last time and attempted to sleep.

Two hours later, when sleep still wouldn’t come, I padded my
way into the kitchen and made coffee, then laid my head against the couch and
thought about the way his lips felt on my ear.

Inches from my neck.

Breaths from my body.

I ached for him in ways I never knew existed.

And I relished in the ache just like I relished in the
anger, because at least that meant it had happened, and at least that meant I
knew he was a bad choice I wasn’t willing to make again.

A weakness that wouldn’t just hurt me.

But kill me.

Sometime around one in the morning when the clock on the
microwave blinked at me with an intensity that started a pulsing headache to
form — I stumbled over to the couch and face planted — the last thought in my
head was of the Sutherland Sunset — and how it had once been my anchor until it
turned into my hell.

What a joke.

What a cruel joke.

“You made coffee.” Will’s smooth voice interrupted what had
been a completely dreamless sleep.

I didn’t have the energy to respond with anything other than
a grunt.

“Still not a morning person,” he commented. His footsteps
might as well be sledgehammers drilling into the wood floor.

“Why?” I croaked.

The walking stopped. Lights flicked on. I shivered and
cursed him to Hell as he poked his head over the couch and had the audacity to
smile. “Why what?”

My eyes narrowed. “Talking.”

“Why talking?” He took a sip out of the blue mug I’d been
drinking out of earlier that morning; he must have reheated the coffee. “Still
really eloquent in the morning I see.” Another annoying sip. The terrorist
didn’t even offer me any! Just kept loudly sipping while staring at me with a
stupid ass grin on his face like it was a joy to be awake at… wait, what time
was it?

I jolted to a sitting position, my pounding headache still
wasn’t gone, in fact it was worse, probably brought on by Will’s cheerful
demeanor and loud walking. “What time is it?”

“You have twenty minutes until you’re expected on set.” His
voice was calm behind me, warm. If I closed my eyes I could almost imagine his
body was about to wrap around me like a blanket, I’d tuck my feet under my body
and rest my head on his shoulder, we’d share a cup of coffee like we used to
and watch the news before work.

It took us one date to become inseparable.

Our trailers side by side.

Cohabitating.

Finishing sentences.

Eating off each other’s plates.

Sharing inside jokes.

Not to mention, Will had been my first.

I shivered as his footsteps moved away from me taking his
body right along with them.

That was the past.

It needed to stay there.

With a sigh, I shot up to my feet and started making my way
back to my room.

I only made it about one foot before Will started cursing.

Panicked, I froze and then turned around. “What’s wrong?”

His eyes narrowed over the rim of the blue cup, “I’m just
trying to decide if you’re doing it on purpose.”

“Doing what?” Okay now I was getting annoyed. And the man
wouldn’t stop slurping his coffee as though he didn’t know how to sip like a
grown up!

He shrugged one of his shoulders. “Wearing no clothes.”

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Today!

Meet the
Author:

Rachel Van Dyken is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal,
and USA Today Bestselling author of regency and contemporary romances. When
she's not writing you can find her drinking coffee at Starbucks and plotting
her next book while watching The Bachelor.

She keeps her home in Idaho with her Husband, adorable son,
and two snoring boxers! She loves to hear from readers!